Looking for an inexpensive vacation...

[StitchBuddy]

Husband says we can't go to Disney this year. We need an inexpensive vacation within driving distance from Dallas. Any ideas?? We have a 13 yrs old DD.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

San Antonio? You could get a season pass to six flags and you could also use it both a fiesta texas in sa and six flags in arlington. In San Antonio, do the Riverwalk cruise, El Mercado, Sea World, Alamo. Zoo, Brackenridge Park, museum etc.

We also went to Fossil Rim in Glen Rose.

Lake Texoma?

I wish I was back living in Texas again!

 

[HeatherC]

What's your budget? Do you want to drive or fly?

 

[NHdisneylover]

I second San Antonio--with a side trip to New Braunfels to go to the original Schlitterbahn (consistenly ranked in the top 5 waterparks in the US--often above both Disney parks).

 

[stsomewhere]

Mammoth cave national park, Kentucky down under, cumberland falls state park, rafting, horsebaCK RIDING

 

[r1lissa]

Bleh- stay out of San Antonio.

To the west: Fossil Rim
To the south: Schlitterbahn
To the south west: camping on the Guadalupe River (Kerrville or Ingram, TX)
To the south east: NASA Space Center or Galveston beaches
To the north: Turner Falls in Davis,Oklahoma

 

[mamacatnv]

Austin/New Braunfels area would be my choice!

Love Love Love the original Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels
Tubing the Comal was fun!
The Alamo was fascination, Natural Bridges Caverns were amazing and the attached wildlife safari included an ostrich encounter that to this day will set us all off into fits of laughter.

We visited the Snake Farm, cheesy but lots and lots of deadly snakes plus it had been featured on Dirtiest Jobs

Bat Cruise in Austin under the Congress St. Bridge on Lady Bird Lake was fun

San Antonio Riverwalk - too commercial but we enjoyed the boat tour

SeaWorld - same as all the others, they have a big whale

We didn't bother with the 6 Flaggs park it was too stinking hot

 

[carj]

I would suggest going to San Antonio and getting the Sea World play passes for 2 of you and one AP for the other. (Then you can use the perks of the AP like free parking.)

We had a great Spring Break just visiting Sea World, Natural Bridge Caverns, The Alamo and Riverwalk. We always do the riverboat tour once every trip. We have visited Fiesta Texas before. If you are interested in that, definitely get the Six Flags passes so that you can use them in Arlington when you get home too.

We have found that we prefer to stay OFF the Riverwalk as the cost is not really worth it for our family once you add in parking fees.

Some suggested Fossil Rim and that is fun, but if you are going in the summer, I wouldn't do that one. It gets hot driving though the park with your windows down, even if you keep the AC on. There are some other things to do in the Glen Rose area but to me that is more of a day trip or overnight trip than a vacation. Just my opinion!

We looked at going to Branson MO. for Spring Break but many of the shows were closed because it was the off season for them. It looked like there were several hotels with waterparks. (Not like Great Wolf but still cool!) I think that we decided it was about 10 hours for us to drive. It might be a little less for you, depending where you are in Dallas.

 

[HannaBelle]

Take a look at Branson! The weather will be cooler...the average high in June/July/August is in the upper 80's.

We did Silver Dollar City, the Titanic Museum, rode the Ducks, rode the train (I would not recommend this, it was lame) and hit a couple of campy restaurants. We went during spring break and did not see any shows, but we definitely want to go again. I bet you could find a condo at a reasonable rate.

Silver Dollar City has a season pass that would include White Water and Celebration City plus discounts throughout the city.

 

[Planogirl]

I also like San Antonio and of course Schlitterbahn. You might also consider Galveston or somewhere else along the Texas coast. The beaches aren't great in Galveston but they're passable. The Ozarks in northern Arkansas are wonderful but I wonder if a kid that age would find stuff to do?

Can you fly somewhere? Colorado is great!